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P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Welcome to the official website of the P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS) .The P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology is the oldest and the largest Russian research center in the field of oceanology.

The main objectives of the Institute lie in a complex study of the World Ocean and the Russian seas based on the idea of entirety of physical, chemical, biological and geological processes observed in them, laying scientific foundations for forecasting the Earth’s climate variability, rational use of marine resources and safeguarding ecological security in the interests of stable development of mankind.

The Institute was established by a resolution of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1946 on the basis of the Laboratory of Oceanology set up in 1941. P.P.Shirshov became the Institute’s first Director. Together with P.P.Shirshov, the well-known scientists like L.A.Zenkevich, V.G.Bogorov, S.V.Bruyevich, A.D.Dobrovolsky, P.L.Bezrukov, I.D.Papanin, V.B.Shtockman and others took an active part in the formation of the new scientific center.

Today, the P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology is an ensemble of 1,300 employees numbering 110 doctors of sciences and 276 candidates of sciences of various disciplines. Among the members of the Institute’s staff there are 3 Academicians and 3 Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The P.P.Shirshov Institute affiliates the Atlantic Department in Kaliningrad, the Southern Department in Gelendjik, a branch in St.-Petersburg, the North-Western Department in Arkhangelsk and the Caspian branch in Astrakhan.

News of the Institute

Federal Agency for scientific organizations of Russia, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS, and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research organize the XXII International Conference on Marine Geology. The Conference will take place in Moscow on November 20–24, 2017.

2016 is the year of 70th anniversary of P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS), one of the oldest and the biggest Russian research center in the field of oceanology. To celebrate the occasion the Institute will be hosting the International Symposium “70 years of World Ocean Research” that will take place on September 12 and 13, 2016 in Moscow, Russia.

For the first time, scientists provide a sea-wide view of what happens to Mediterranean waters that flow into the Black Sea through the Bosporus Strait. Below a depth of about 150 meters, the Black Sea is devoid of oxygen. Only certain microbes can survive in this "dead zone," which reaches depths of over 2000 meters. Warm, salty water flowing from the Mediterranean Sea into the Black Sea ventilates the middepth water column of the sea, trapping anoxic water below and maintaining the sea's distinctive structure. However, the precise fate of inflowing Mediterranean waters has remained something of a mystery to scientists.